HIGHLIGHTS MICHAL CHRISTINE ESCOBAR, SENIOR EDITOR – HOTELS
During HT-NEXT 2021, more than 300 IT executives came together to network, listen to educational sessions and have fun at the Fairmont Princess Scottsdale. The three-day event allowed many industry peers to connect with each other for the first time since HT-NEXT was last held in person in April 2019. Here are just a few highlights of some of the key sessions that took place during HT-NEXT 2021. Scan here for in-depth coverage of all the sessions at HT-NEXT 2021!
DAY 1
The Rise of Experiential IoT Day 1 began with a highly anticipated presentation by John Padgett, President of Princess Cruises and Chief Experience and Innovation Officer at Carnival Corp. He provided a deep dive into why Carnival Corp., specifically its Princess Cruises brand, decided to implement a brand-new set of technologies to completely redefine the guest experience aboard their ships. During his presentation, Padgett explained in detail not only how its OceanMedallion technology works but also the company’s thought process behind its creation. “Our cruise ship is a 160,000-ton mobile device,” Padgett explained. “We wrapped it with an operating system, and every single guest experience that exists on that ship is simply an application on that mobile device. Everything sits on a ubiquitous platform. This is completely different
More than 300 hotel IT executives came together Dec. 14-16 at the Fairmont Princess Scottsdale to network, listen to educational sessions and have some fun!
from anything that exists now in the hospitality industry because hospitality companies — for the most part — employ a variety of systems that exist in their own verticals and are not built around the guest experience.” This shift in mindset, however, allows Princess Cruises to deliver true personalization and frictionless experiences which in turn encourages guest loyalty and larger spend. In fact, Princess has even gone so far as to add their xIoT to beaches, shuttle buses, and other on-shore spaces where their guests may go to ensure the frictionless experience continues with them wherever they travel. “Remember,” Padgett admonished attendees, “there is no limit to the amount of information people will share with you as long as you make the experience worth it. You need to provide them with value.”
Cryptocurrency & Hospitality As cryptocurrencies gain popularity, hoteliers have been wondering what this means for the hotel industry. To get the conversation going, HT brought on stage a panel of experts to discuss this topic including: Bo Friddell, President of Sunrise Salvador; Craig Nazzaro, Partner, Nelson Mullins; David Khalif, Head of Operations, Viridi Funds and Ron Tarro, Managing Director, SalientVoice Ventures. To begin, Friddell explained why his hotel in El Salvador accepts Bitcoin. “When someone pays me in bitcoin, I can see
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